Sierra Club Canyons Campaign

Eric Busboom, Lead Partner

“SDSVP was instrumental in developing the tools for sustainable growth of the Canyons Campaign and an essential partner in making the vision of San Diego Canyonlands, the new nonprofit, a reality. San Diego’s environment will benefit for decades to come.”
Eric Bowlby, Program Director, Canyons Campaign

After a three-year partnership with SDSVP, Sierra Club’s San Diego Canyons Campaign is ready to graduate from a growing program to a new nonprofit dedicated to San Diego County’s wonderful canyons. This highly successful campaign, nurtured by Sierra Club for over 8 years, has organized over 40 Friends Groups for canyons and utilized them as “nature classrooms” for thousands of San Diego’s youths.

Initially, the SDSVP team supplied assistance in the following areas: strategic planning, technology, marketing, public relations, and management training. Later, believing that a “spin-off” of the campaign would provide a focused governing board, more funding opportunities, and a chance for accelerated growth, SDSVP Lead Partner Eric Busboom hired a consultant to help develop a migration path and a new strategic plan. San Diego Canyonlands Inc. and its new hard-working board of directors will begin to implement this plan in the fall of 2008.

During the three-year investment period, the Canyons Campaign grew from 1 to 3 full-time staff; created 15 Canyon Friends Groups; generated 10,500 volunteer hours; enrolled 1,200 new Friends Group Members; engaged over 3,000 volunteers; and involved 1,800 youths in its educational and stewardship programs.

While SDSVP will continue to provide consulting and other resources as the new organization grows, the establishment of a new nonprofit focused on San Diego’s Canyons is a giant milestone to celebrate.